Historic Cleveland BreweriesJuLY 2018 editionby jim prohaska

The Origins of Forest City Brewery

Our establishment is the fourth named Forest City Brewery to exist in Cleveland over the years. The first two breweries to carry the Forest City name were both founded before the Civil War and at a time when the Cleveland brewing scene was growing steadily due to the influx of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Bohemia (Czech Republic).

Irishman Charles Rogers settled in Cleveland in 1839 and opened the Forest City Brewery at Canal Road and Seneca Street (West 3rd Street). This would be near where the Hard Rock Café used to be located. Rogers picked this location due to the accessibility to several mineral springs (“of utmost purity”) and one of the 4 major ingredients of beer.

Forest City Brewery horse-drawn beer delivery wagon c.1880

For the first 20 years, business was slow but steady for Rogers. By 1858, business had increased enough that the brewery had to expand and add a new building (40 x 60 feet and 3 stories high) to keep up with the demand for Forest City’s ale production. By 1871, Charles Rogers decided to retire and passed management of the brewery to his younger brother William. William formed a partnership with Robert Beggs and later with Hazen Hughes (who was the brother of pioneer Cleveland brewery owner John Hughes). During this period, Forest City reached its peak production period (roughly 6500 barrels a year) until the brewery was sold in 1878 and again in 1880.

The sale of Forest City brewery in 1880 was significant in that it was purchased by Carling & Company of London, Ontario and re-named the brewery as the London Brewery. Thus, the Carling name was first established here in Cleveland with its production of ales, stouts and porters.

The second Forest City Brewery was established around 1850 by Thomas Newman. His facility was located on Irving Avenue (E. 25th Street) near Pittsburgh Avenue on Cleveland’s near East Side. Thus, for a time, there were two breweries in Cleveland with the same name. Even more interesting was that William Rogers (brother of the above-mentioned Charles Rogers) became a partner to Newman in the mid-1860’s. However, William Rogers left Newman after a few years to take over management for his brother at the west side Forest City Brewery.

Newman retired in 1872 and the business was owned by James Dangerfield and Daniel Fovargue. Fovargue had apprenticed with Newman prior to taking over the brewery. By 1875, the increasing demand for lager beer caused Fovargue (who now was sole owner) to increase its production over the other beers at his facility approximately 6,000 barrels per year. Even so, with total production of only about 9,000 barrels per year, the brewery failed and closed in 1883.

NEXT TIME: Forest City Brewing Company #3 – the brewing powerhouse on Union Avenue.

Historic Cleveland BreweriesMay 2018 editionby jim prohaska

Vintage Brewery & Brewing Equipment ads, c.1907

At the turn of the last century, there we no giant national Breweries. The likes of Miller and Anheuser Busch were still local entities, along with thousands of other neighborhood Breweries that existed here in Cleveland during the early 1900’s. The expansion of the Brewing industry and the demand for beer not only drove sales of the equipment necessary for the production of beer, it also demanded innovations within the industry to increase production and efficiencies while cutting costs. Some of these innovations are pictured here. These ads were taken from trade magazines dating from the 1907-09 era. These magazines catered to the Brewery owners and their master brewers and discussed the latest techniques in “modern” brewing techniques as well as allowing manufacturers to tout their latest products.

The Lowe Manufacturing Company seemed to specialize in filtering, cleaning, sanitization and pasteurization of beer and brewing equipment and associated brewing supplies. They were a consistent advertiser of their products.

Note that Architect Louis Lehle lists The Gund Brewery (Cleveland) as one of his clients. Similarly, the Richard Griesser firm lists The Cleveland and Sandusky Brewing Co. as one of his clients – perhaps one of his firm’s larger customers?

Compare this Brew House layout to today’s Craft Breweries (including our own Forest City Brewery). Much has changed…..

The bottling of beer became big business for Breweries at the end of the 1800’s. Innovations in filling and capping the beer allowed for a dramatic increase in bottled beer production. Home delivery of beer (rather than just to taverns and beer halls) became an attractive source of additional income for Breweries. One can only imagine the engineering ingenuity that went into the machine pictured above.

Historic Cleveland BreweriesApril 2018 editionby jim prohaska

Oppmann Brewing Company

The Oppmann Brewery on the corner of Columbus and Willey Streets.

Andrew W. Oppmann –An Early Beer Baron

Great fortunes were made by some of Cleveland’s early Beer Barons. Andrew W. Oppmann was one of these greatly successful millionaire brewers. Oppmann left Bavaria for the United States in 1863 at the age of 19. He had apprenticed at a number of breweries in Bavaria and settled for a short time in St. Louis to do the same. Young, restless and adventurous, he decided to travel the (wild) West, then ended up joining the Calvary. He ended up in Los Angeles where he became a crew member of a ship that sailed the Orient. Once back in the States, he again decided to sail, this time down the West Coast to Panama, where he walked the 40 miles across the isthmus(!) to the eastern shore to board another ship heading to New York City. His wanderlust finally satisfied, he was happy to return to the U.S.

Oppmann wanted to return to his true passion, which was brewing beer. He traveled to Chicago and took employment with the Mueller Brothers Brewery there. His hope was for long-term employment. However, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed the Brewery (as well as Andrew’s possessions) and forced Oppmann to leave the city. He ultimately ended up in Cleveland, briefly working as brewmaster for Haltnorth’s Brewery on the west side. The desire to own his own brewery was strong. Thus, in 1872, he bought the financially strapped Adam Schumann Brewery at the corner of Columbus and Willey Streets.

Under Oppmann’s control, his Brewery grew from the 18th largest (out of 26) in 1874 to the 5th largest Brewery in Cleveland ten years later. He was a progressive business man with a creative mind – holding several patents on equipment that improved general brewing methods which ultimately also helped to increase the efficiency of his operation.

Oppmann did not embrace the bottling of his beer. He was an advocate for draught beer and sold the bulk of his product to various saloons throughout the city. However, a group of his employees saw a great opportunity in bottling, so they organized a bottling company to bottle and distribute Oppmann’s beer. They formed the Anhaeusser Co-Operative Bottling Company in 1889 and re-branded Oppmann’s beer as Anhaeusser Malt Tonic. Their trade was aimed primarily at the home delivery and consumption market. Their facility was located across Columbus Street from the Oppmann brew house.

The momentum of the brewery’s success was temporarily halted on July 4, 1889. The entire brewery complex was destroyed by fire, evidently caused by some errant fireworks in the neighborhood. The loss was estimated to be $30,000 to $35,000 ($780,000 to over $900,000 in today’s dollars). Oppmann quickly rebuilt, erecting an enormous and opulent new Brew House (please see photo above).

By 1891, Andrew Oppmann decided to get out of the brewing business and concentrate on real estate (particularly in the West Boulevard area of Cleveland). He sold his shares and the brewery was re-named the Phoenix Brewing Company (as it had risen from the ashes of the fire). In 1897, Phoenix produced 50,000 barrels of beer. this continued success made it ripe for acquisition by the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company conglomerate which purchased it in 1898. Phoenix was the 2nd largest of the 9 Cleveland & Sandusky group of breweries. By 1908 however, the need to consolidate and streamline the multitude of Cleveland & Sandusky brewing operations forced the shutdown of the Phoenix plant – never to reopen.

Oppmann Brewery workers in 1880. The star on the barrel (known as “brewer’s stars”) signified purity and quality.

Andrew Oppmann died in 1910 at the age of 66. At his passing, he was one of the wealthiest real estate owners in Cleveland. The Oppmann Brewing Company was located one block from our Forest City Brewery and is currently the site of St. Wendelin Catholic Church. There is no existing structural evidence left of the Oppmann Brewing Company. However, members of the Oppmann family visit our Forest City Brewery on occasion and help give us insight to the past and to this important saga of Cleveland brewing history.